


down in atlantis

by polka_stripes



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Athlete Harry, Athlete Louis, Clubbing, Dirty Talk, Frat Boy Louis, Hand Jobs, IMO, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Masturbation, Platonic Bed Sharing, Semi-Public Sex, Shower Sex, Swim Team, Wingman Niall, captain of the ship, except when it's used as v hot wank material, harry/OMC is entirely offscreen and in the past, they're swimmers yeahhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 09:31:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14734425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/polka_stripes/pseuds/polka_stripes
Summary: Inspired byAtlantis by Bridget Mendlerfor the HL Song Exchange, for insomeniaxHarry's sick of his string of shallow relationships and doesn't want to crush on Louis if he's just going to be broken up with after a few months. The heart doesn't always care what you want, though, and Harry's is going to dive in deep.--Sunday - Day 5Harry should have known Sean wasn’t serious about him, that Harry was just another lay, albeit a reliable one. He looks at the workout for the day and sighs.2x (4x canceled dinners)2x late night “hey come over” texts before a big exam3x unfulfilled promises to visit over the summerDespite what Harry had been trying to tell himself, their relationship had never made it out of the shallow end.--





	down in atlantis

**Author's Note:**

  * For [insomeniax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/insomeniax/gifts).



> this was a group effort, as usual. thank you amanda, alex, and anitra, truly an A team!

_Tuesday - Day 0_

Harry jumps from the pool deck into the cool water feet first. He sinks deep, basking in the silence, eyes drinking in the calming blue.

The scientific rules of buoyancy and lung capacity bring him to the surface unwillingly. He treads water for a moment.

“Styles, get going!”

He ducks his head underwater and pushes off the wall in a streamline to start his warm up. 1x500, 2x250. He synchronizes his strokes to beat of the last words his boyfriend spoke before Harry left for practice.

“I’ve been sleeping with David.”

Ex boyfriend.

**_Week 1_ **

_Wednesday - Day 1_

Harry heaves himself out of the water, biceps flexing as he kneels his right leg on the pool deck and brings himself to standing.

Water droplets dance off his teammates as they empty the pool, sparkling in the southern California sunshine, mocking him.

In the locker room, he twists the shower handle all the way to the left and stands under the beating spray, motionless, until the rest of his team has left and the water’s running cold.

Keeping track of the short sprints Coach made them do today mostly forced him to stop thinking about Sean for a blessed two hours. But his mind is freed from the pace clock and now all too eager to put their conversation yesterday on repeat sets.

2x “You’re a little much for me.”

Rest 10 seconds.

4x “You spend so much time at practice & meets, what was I supposed to do?”

Rest 15 seconds.

6x “This wasn’t that deep, why are you so upset?”

If his shampoo mixes with tears as he rinses, no one has to know.

 

_Thursday - Day 2_

Harry is walking out of the locker room, cap and goggles in his mouth as he struggles with the drawstring on his jammers, when he hears a teammate. “Hey, Styles!”

He looks up and scans the aquatic center. Louis Tomlinson is at the far side of the diving well, talking to someone through the gate separating the pools from the rec center’s courtyard, waving him over. “This guy’s got stuff for you?”

“Heyyyy Harry,” Sean drawls from the other side of the gate. “You weren’t responding to my texts, thought you’d need these for your meet soon?” He holds up a pair of Harry’s warm ups, left behind when Harry left in a rush on Tuesday.

Sean knows he doesn’t have a meet soon.

“Great, thanks,” Harry mumbles as he opens the gate as narrowly as he can. He grabs the sweats and turns away, letting the metal clang shut behind him. He stalks over to the lap pool, ignoring Sean’s pleas.

“Harry, can’t we talk! Baby, I didn’t know it was so serious for you! I’ll stop seeing him!”

His voice fades away as Harry tosses the sweatpants on the bleachers and steps over to his lane, sorting out his cap and goggles.

“Sounds like someone needs to get wasted this weekend.” Tomlinson is suddenly standing next to Harry, putting on his goggles. “A bunch of guys from my frat are going clubbing tomorrow. I’ll text you?”

He’s never really hung out with Louis outside of team events, but losing himself in shots and nameless bodies sounds exactly like what he needs.

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Okay.”

Tomlinson jumps in the pool and takes off, the sunlight catching the breaks in the water and casting shadows across his back. Harry takes a deep breath and joins him.

 

_Friday - Day 3_

Harry leaves the crowded dance floor and heads to the bar. He’s lost Louis and his fraternity brothers, everyone scattered to find someone to dance with. He orders a drink and is aimlessly scanning the colorful bottles of liquor behind the bar when he feels someone press in close next to him.

“Who was that guy at the pool?” Louis puts his empty drink on the bar and signals for a refill.

“Oh. Uh. Ex.” He coughs. “Ex boyfriend.”

“What happened?”

“Cheated on me.”

“Really?”

“You sound like it’s hard to believe.”

“It is.”

Their drinks arrive and as they turn away from the bar Louis puts his hand at Harry’s waist, “C’mon over here, the boys snagged a couch.”

He lets Louis lead him over to a couch full of dressed up boys shouting at each other around an oval coffee table. “Move over, move, ‘arry and I are gonna sit.”

The boys make room on the couch - someone goes up to get another drink, another spots a girl from Gamma Phi he’s been chasing after - and Harry sinks into the leather, letting the buzz of the music mix in his head with the fuzz from the alcohol. He’s enveloped in muffled silence, just enough of a beat in the background to keep him present.

Someone comes back to the table with a round of shots and they all tip one back. The group starts heading to the dance floor but Louis turns to Harry, his hand on his waist again and his breath ghosting over Harry’s neck as he leans in to say into his ear over the music, “You having an ok time? Wanna go?"

Harry shakes his head. “No,” comes out, garbled. He clears his throat. “No. Let’s dance.”

A grin splits Louis’ face, his eyes sparkling in the strobing lights as he grabs Harry’s hand. “C’mon then. Let’s get that guy out of your head.”

 

_Saturday - Day 4_

Harry flips and pushes off the wall, his head pounding from some ill-advised shots late last night.

He turns his head to the right to breathe just in time to see one of the divers pierce the plane of water and sink below the surface. The woman is motionless for a moment, suspended in the water, before kicking to resurface. As Harry puts his face back in the water he can’t help but wonder what he’d find if he could just….stay below.

 

_Sunday - Day 5_

Harry should have known Sean wasn’t serious about him, that Harry was just another lay, albeit a reliable one. He looks at the workout for the day and sighs.

 

2x (4x canceled dinners)

2x late night “hey come over” texts before a big exam

3x unfulfilled promises to visit over the summer

 

Despite what Harry had been trying to tell himself, their relationship had never made it out of the shallow end.

 

_Monday - Day 6_

Harry pulls into the wall as he finishes his last distance set for the day, the monotony of the laps a soothing calm to the racing thoughts that swim in his head as he walks around campus. As he takes off his goggles and grabs his water bottle, treading water, he starts wondering about all the signs he had missed. It seemed so obvious now that Sean had never been as in love with Harry as Harry had been with him. That he likely had never been in love with Harry at all.

 

4x “I love you’s” that went unanswered

6x “Dates” he invited his friends along to

4x weekends he ignored Harry’s texts entirely

 

Would he ever find someone who would love him deeply, and if he did, would he ever stop being infatuated with shallow guys like Sean long enough to notice?

A splash breaks him out of his spiraling thoughts. Harry looks for its source and finds Tomlinson smiling at him. “Stop thinking so hard, Styles, we have study hall next. Save it for later.”

Harry chuckles, less because he’s in the mood to laugh and more because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do.

“See you there? Save me a seat?”

Harry is barely saying “Sure” as Louis, apparently already confident in Harry’s positive answer, climbs out of the pool.

“Cool! Thanks!” Louis throws over his shoulder as he saunters across the pool deck and into the locker rooms.

Harry takes a deep breath and sinks to the bottom of the pool, floating as he gazes at the flickers of sunlight refracting against the tile.

 

_Tuesday - Day 7_

Harry jumps as a backpack hits the table in front of him. He’s at the mandatory study hall for athletes at the library, researching for his Economic Analysis of Law paper. He takes out his earbuds as he looks up to see Louis unpacking his bag onto the table.

“Um.”

“God I’m so sorry about yesterday, I ended up in a meeting with my academic advisor, I know it’s only a few weeks into the semester but I have a bad feeling about this endocrinology class already.”

“Uh.”

“Oh god, I’m sorry, is someone sitting here?” Louis stops and looks up as he pushes his hair off his forehead. “I didn’t mean to barge in. I can move.” He makes to start picking up the books he had just crashed onto the table.

Harry stands up from his chair, arm outstretched. “No no no, I mean,” he sits back down as he realizes he’s nearly halfway across the table, “no one’s sitting here. Go ahead.”

He’s about to put his headphones back in - acknowledging that one night at the club do not best friends make (learning from his mistakes with Sean was an unwelcome addition to his course load this semester) - when he catches “So what are you working on?” from Tomlinson as he powers up his laptop.

Harry puts the earbuds down. “Uh, I have an economics paper due in a few weeks. Getting started on some research.” 

“Oh shit, wow, I’ve never worked that far ahead in my life. I’m lucky if I’m reading a week in advance of the syllabus. Not a lot of papers in human biology though, mostly tests and labs and stuff.”

“Is that your major?” Harry finds himself asking despite his earlier warning to himself.

“Yeah.” Louis continues with his plans for grad school in occupational therapy, asks Harry about his own major, moves on to their chances against UCSB in their first meet next Friday, “God we have GOT to get Mulvaney to take care of that atrocious beard before then, what do you know about the fluid dynamics of facial hair, maybe we can convince him there’s some kind of new hazing of juniors and shaving their ugly ass facial growth is a ritual…”

“Considering we’re also juniors, I’m not sure how that’s going to work.”

“True. I’ll have to think about it.

Louis continues his chatter as he highlights his notes, his voice crescendoing until the study hall monitor shushes. He drops it to a whisper but it rises again, a repeating cadence.

Harry listens, answers where he can, and although he barely knows Louis besides as a fellow swimmer, he basks in the attention, feeling less like a spinning compass and more like he’s settled on true north, a feeling he rarely encounters outside of the pool. 

Rustling breaks him out of his suspended state and he looks around to see most people packing up. 

“Looks like the mandatory two hours is over,” Louis’ looking around as well, “I don’t know about you but I should probably stay and get some more done.” 

Harry can’t imagine choosing to leave Louis, this bubble, right now. 

“Me too.”

**_Week 2_ **

_Wednesday - Day 8_

3x300

2x450

1x900 

1x “Dancing again this Friday?”

1x900

2x450

3x300

1x “Sure.”

 

_Thursday - Day 9_

Harry isn’t sure how he ended up on Louis’ instagram (he knows exactly how he ended up on Louis’ instagram), but he’s careful not to double tap as he scrolls through shirtless swimming photos, shirtless beach photos, a shirtless photo of Louis from behind in gray sweatpants (Harry took a moment to consider whether the sweats had been shrunk in the wash - surely a fashion rule was that sweatpants were made as baggy as possible? The ones Louis had on here looked tighter than some of his sister’s leggings), unfortunately shirted clubbing photos (strategically posted during the off season only), and photos with his little sisters. He’s back at freshman year, he realizes, two years ago, when he stumbles on a photo of Louis at a barbeque with….a surprisingly large amount of rainbows. He looks at the location information. “Queer and Ally Student Assembly Welcome Back Barbecue - Founders Park.”

2x _Oh_.

 

_Friday - Day 10_

4x outfit changes

3x hairstyle debates

2x cologne spritzes

Harry walks up the pathway to Louis, who’s leaning on a column supporting the fraternity house portico. He’s got his legs crossed at the ankles, hip popped, and he’s idly scrolling through his phone. By nature of swim team locker rooms, Harry’s seen Louis naked or nearly so more times than he can count. But the casual way he’s leaning and the way the soft setting sunlight sets his face aglow juxtaposed with one of the smartest looks Harry’s _ever_ seen has Harry stopping halfway to the porch.

1x sharp inhale

The Lyft pulls up and Louis bounces down the walkway past Harry to open the door, gesturing for him to climb in.

“Where’re the other guys?”

“Mixer at Gamma Phi. Andy was going on about “tonight’s the night” with Amanda but frankly, he’s been saying that since last spring and I’m wildly disinterested in that saga.”

“Oh.”

15x minutes of only semi-awkward silence

The car stops and Louis is quick to exit and hold the door open for Harry to get out. “Thank you!” he shouts into the backseat as Harry looks up and realizes they’re standing in front of Redline, one of the gay bars downtown.

Louis’ at his side, fidgeting with his hair. “Is this, um, is this okay?” He’s looking up at Harry nervously. “The Exchange is a few blocks down if you’d rather…”

Harry grabs his hand and heads towards the door. “This is great.”

**_Week 3_ **

_Saturday - Day 11_

5x 200 IM

4x 100 free

5x 200 IM

4x 100 free

Harry’s rhythm in the water is a dull echo of the pulse from the club.

 

_Sunday - Day 12_

In preparation for their first meet on Friday, Coach splits the team in half and races Cardinal against Gold. Harry’s 1650 free is right in the middle of the “meet,” giving nearly everyone else a fifteen minute rest. The rest of the team is meandering around the pool deck - a mile long swim isn’t usually much of a barn burner - but about halfway through, as Harry takes a breath before a turn he makes eye contact with Louis, who’s standing near the pace clock and emphatically flapping his arms. As he tucks his head under and pushes off the wall, he’s confused and mostly thinking about how unfairly hot Louis looks in the university-issued gray team sweatpants, until he starts his stroke again and realizes _Louis’ watching his race_ and _telling him to kick harder_.

The second half of his race is a negative split.

 

_Monday - Day 13_

Harry’s eating a peach at the kitchen sink, staring idly out the window at the pink stucco of the house next door. The back door slams and he jumps, juice squirting and trickling down his arm. Niall calls out a hello as Harry fumbles for a paper towel. Niall’s backpack thumps on his bed while Harry’s finishing up the peach, looking over the pit to catch any last pieces of fruit before he throws it out. Niall pads into the kitchen and slumps into a chair at the kitchen table, dramatically lowering his head to the table on his arms.

“Unnghh, I am so unprepared for the weight room later.”

Harry hums. “Yeah, frankly, I’d rather not speak to more people today than I have to. At least in the pool you can’t actually chat to anyone.”

Niall turns his head to look at Harry. “So definitely not interested in chatting up Louis, then?”

Harry had been searching in the cabinet for a protein bar to take to the gym, but at Niall’s question he whips his head around. “What? No. Why would I be chatting him up?” he frowns.

“Well now that you and Sean are done, I figured you’d be angling for a new boyfriend. It didn’t look like you were getting much homework done with him at study hall the other day.”

Harry had gotten plenty of work done, thank you very much, Niall. Harry is big enough to admit, if only to himself, that he had spent a more than usual amount of time glancing above his laptop screen to watch the way Louis’ hair fell across his forehead and how his lips moved as he quietly whispered along with the songs in his headphones, but at the end of the day he had completed his assignments.

“That doesn’t mean I want him to be my boyfriend,” Harry protests. “Studying together is entirely platonic!”

“Maybe it is, but didn’t you go to Redline with him over the weekend? Clubbing together is definitely not platonic.”

“Niall, we’ve gone clubbing together and we’re not dating - when will you finally make an honest man out of me?”

Niall laughs, “We’re practically dating anyway. We live together, swim together, party together, what else do couples do?”

“Have sex.”

“Not if you’re ace!”

Harry throws a banana from the counter into his bag. “Niall, I’m not interested in a boyfriend right now.”

Niall lifts his head from the table, eyes wide. “Wow. I never thought I’d see the day.”

“What do you mean? I’ve been not-interested in having boyfriends before.”

“Would have fooled me. I don’t think you’ve been single for more than a week since freshman year. And didn’t you have that boyfriend in high school? You guys broke up after fall break our first year?”

Harry huffs, irritated. “Well it’s been three weeks since Sean left me, so go ahead and write that in your record book, since you’ve been keeping track of my relationships.” Gripping his banana so hard he’d find finger-shaped bruises on it later, he heads outside and hops on his cruiser to get to class before weight training in the evening.

 

_Tuesday - Day 14_

Harry knows Niall is right, is the thing. And it’s the reason why he isn’t trying to hook up with Louis, despite how badly he wants to. Being with Sean felt like swimming a medley race. Splashing through the surface of the water, even the few quiet moments underwater are filled with spinning thoughts as Harry tries to right himself to transition from backstroke to breaststroke. He spends most of his relationships spinning up, down, left, and right as he tries to find a way to make each one something _more_ , to find the magic combination that would bring them deeper. When that doesn’t work, he moves on to the next.

He’s been looking for his deepest love, but they’ve all stayed at the surface.

But Louis is different. There’s a depth to Louis that Harry wants to be enveloped in. Being with Louis is like the silence of underwater drills, where everything is muffled and Harry feels more present in that moment than he ever does on land.

**_Week 4_ **

_Wednesday - Day 15_

Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off Louis all practice. It was like he had a tracking beacon on his teammate, catching a glimpse of his ankles as he kicked past Harry, a flash of his bright orange goggles in his dark brown hair, his laugh ringing in Harry’s ears as they gathered with their lane mates at the end of the set.

He tried to shake it off in the showers, but his plan was foiled when Louis approached him with his towel around his waist.

“Save my spot in study hall? I left my laptop at my apartment.”

Harry barely heard a word, too distracted by the way Louis’ tattoo framed his delicate collar bones, _It is what it is_ feeling less like defeat and more like a challenge somehow. Harry wanted to know more about that tattoo, about all the ones littering Louis’ body, wanted to trace their patterns with his tongue and bite into the meaty flesh of Louis’ biceps, his chest, his thighs, his _ass._

Harry coughed. “Uh yeah, of course. I’ll be at the usual table.”

 _Damnit, Styles, this is exactly what Niall meant._ _You’re in too deep, too soon._

 

_Thursday - Day 16_

A sign up sheet for hotel room pairs goes up in the men’s locker room. Harry is studying it, seeing who’s taken already, when he catches Louis heading towards him.

One of the freshman crosses in between them. Harry panics.

“Hey, Robinson, you have a roommate for Poly this weekend? No? Great, you’re mine.”

He scribbles their names on the list and runs out of the locker room to class before Louis can protest.

 

_Friday - Day 17_

Harry’s just getting started with downward dog and Robinson’s unpacking his duffel when the hotel room door clicks open (Freshman. They’ll only be in the hotel the one night, then it’s an early bus ride to San Luis Obispo in the morning. Harry stopped unpacking pretty quickly on these types of trips and Robinson will soon too, he bets.). Harry stays in position but lifts his head as Louis walks in with his bag and roommate in tow.

“Uhhh, you have the wrong room. 

Louis shrugs lightheartedly as he walks further into the room, tossing his duffel onto the bed Harry’d claimed. “Room reservation mix up. Didn’t book enough rooms or something, they’re having us double up.”

“And you just assume I want to share a bed with you?” Harry’s moved into cobra, stretching his back out.

“Well, I don’t know who that guy,” Louis nods towards Robinson, “is, and I’m afraid Mulvaney’s beard is going to attack me in my sleep, so really it’s a matter of necessity. Can’t have the team’s best breaststroker eaten by ginger facial hair, can we? 

Harry tries to stifle a laugh - he’d have the same fear, if someone asked him to sleep in close quarters with Mulvaney - but he still ends up honking a little.

“So I take it that’s fine with you, then. Great.” Louis pulls out his toiletries and heads to the bathroom. “I sleep on the right side, Styles, I want that night table!”

Harry sighs and finishes up his stretching, trying to shake out a two hour bus ride and an afternoon of racing. He also tries not to think about how he’s about to spend eight hours less than a foot - 12 inches -  away from Louis. Sleeping.

He’s not very successful.

 

_Saturday - Day 18_

An unfamiliar sound jolts Harry awake. He’s in an unfamiliar room, which isn’t all that concerning given his competition schedule, but the alarm isn’t stopping and there’s someone warm against his back, which _is_ concerning.

“Mhpmh, turn it off.” Harry rolls over and ends up nearly on top of - _oh_ , right, _Louis_. His arm hits Louis’ forehead just as Louis’ lifting his head up, hair sleep-mussed and eyes squinting, and Louis falls back into the pillow dramatically.

“I would if you’d stop trying to knock me out.”

“I wouldn’t be knocking you out if you stayed on your side of the bed like a normal person!”

“Guys, the alarm?” Mulvaney’s muttering stops their bickering as Louis leans over and Beyonce’s requests to “give it to mama” are quieted.

Louis turns back towards Harry, and Harry realizes his arm is somehow underneath Louis’ head and he’s basically cuddling his teammate. Louis doesn’t seem to mind, in fact is almost leaning into it, closing his eyes and pulling the covers up to his neck. There’s a couple problems with this. For one, Harry would like to not be late to their meet today. For another, Louis looks incredibly sweet and Harry would like to keep him here on his arm, in bed, forever.

“Uh, Louis?”

“Hm?”

“Shouldn’t we like...get up?”

“I hit snooze, we’re fine, give me five more minutes.”

Harry considers extricating his arm so he can get moving - after all, Louis _isn’t_ his boyfriend and he doesn’t _want_ Louis to be his boyfriend, he doesn’t want _any_ boyfriend, Niall is _wrong_ and Harry _likes_ being single.

But five more minutes never killed anyone.

 

_Sunday - Day 19_

Harry finds himself disappointed to wake up alone in his room in Los Angeles now that he knows what it’s like to wake up next to Louis. Louis mostly smelled of chlorine, like anyone in a pool over two hours a day would, but snuggled together in the early morning Harry’s nose had captured something warm underneath, an intoxicating scent that has Harry’s hand moving over his morning wood in memory, rubbing himself over his boxers.

As Harry teases himself he quickly runs through his day. No practice, but Coach would want him to look over his times from this weekend, and he should get started on some homework, but nothing too urgent. A luxurious morning wank fits quite nicely into his schedule.

He stretches his legs out underneath the sheet, pointing his toes and sighing as he flexes his calves and thighs. He strokes his torso, feeling his hard-earned muscles, and imagines his hands sliding up the planes of Louis’ abs, around his hips, down the curve of his ass. Harry licks his lips as he grips his dick over the cotton. He rubs himself, lightly teasing his balls as he pinches his nipples, squirming on the bed. Finally getting serious about this wank, he kicks off his top sheet and pulls down his boxers to throw them off the side of the bed.

Planting his feet, he strokes himself to full hardness and lets his mind wander. He imagines Louis’ thick fingers around his dick, his breath on his neck, his body hovering over him. He gasps as he fists his dick, using his other hand to tease his balls and run his finger down his taint to his hole. He spends a few moments lightly touching himself all over, getting more and more worked up.

A too-tight grip at just the wrong angle ends his fantasizing, and with a groan - not the good kind - he rolls over to fumble for the shoe box under his bed. He grabs lube and squeezes a healthy amount into his hand, and then a bit more on his dick for good measure. He throws the tube on the floor and goes back to work, sighing with pleasure as his hand glides smoothly over himself.

Harry loses himself in sensations, crying out as he thrusts his hips into his fist, gripping his balls as he slicks himself up. Tension grows in his gut, curling and expanding inside him as he applies more pressure, flicking his wrist at the head of his dick and pushing his middle finger against his opening. He humps the air, sweat gathering on his forehead as he rests his cheek against the pillow, breathing heavily. His body coils tighter and tighter, his muscles tensing as his veins crackle with energy.

He slows down a bit, pulling at his dick to stretch out the feeling, let his orgasm unfurl a little more slowly, but before long he picks up the pace again. He grunts as sparklers swirl through his veins, exploding into fireworks as he comes hot across his abs and chest.

Harry lightly touches himself as he comes down from his orgasm, floating back to earth on a cloud of ecstatic haze. Once he lands he takes a deep breath and flexes his arms above his head. He lays in bed, come sticky on his stomach, and sighs deeply, pleased with this start to his Sunday. Until he remembers how he got started on this fantastic journey.

Louis. 

Fuck _._

 

_Monday - Day 20_

It’s hot today. 90 degrees and only 11am.

Harry slips into the cool water and feels the light sheen of sweat he’d accumulated on the walk from the locker room disappear. He bobs up, breaking the surface. As he takes a deep breath and pushes off the wall, he hopes a hard workout will also wipe away any lingering desire for Louis.

 

_Tuesday - Day 21_

It’s another hot day, and another day Harry can’t get Louis off his mind.

**_Week 5_ **

_Wednesday - Day 22_

Harry’s phone vibrated harshly against the wooden table, breaking through his study playlist and causing him to lift his eyes from his reading for the first time in hours. He rubbed at his eyes as he unlocked his phone. 

_Study together Saturday night? My house? Pretty much everyone else is going to the strip club._

**You really study on a Saturday night?**

_Studying inorganic chem, studying channing tatum in 21 jump street, same difference_

**Oh that kind of study session**

**Sure**

_I mean bring your books but like don’t actually expect to get work done._

If Harry was interested in Louis more than platonically, he would have turned that into something suggestive, but he likes Louis as a friend, thank you very much Niall, and so he didn’t. He wondered, though, having never been inside Louis’ fraternity’s house, where they’d study. Was there a big formal library with solid desks one of them would have to climb over to kiss the other? (Unlikely.) Would they study on the couch, starting on opposite ends but over the course of the evening moving closer together until they ended up wrapped in each other’s arms, making out in the dark as light from the movie flashed across their faces? What if Louis brought Harry directly to his room? As a good host Louis would offer Harry his desk while Louis spread his papers out on his bed, but it’d be awkward to watch a movie ten feet away from each other with Harry in a rolling chair. Of course it would only make sense that Harry should move to Louis’ bed, where Harry could suck Louis’ dick more comfortably.

Another vibration brought him back to earth.

_8:30 okay?_

Harry texted back a smiling emoji, with the sunglasses, because he didn’t trust himself to form actual words. He dropped his phone on the table and groaned as he laid his head across his arms over his notebook. A crisp _sh!_ came from the cubicle next to him.

Harry sighed and picked up his phone, resting his chin on his arm and pouting. He opened Instagram and immediately navigated to @louist95, something he had done so often over the last two weeks he didn’t need to type more than “lo” for Louis’ profile to pop up. Unsurprisingly, Louis hadn’t posted anything new since Harry last checked three hours ago.

He and Louis were friends. Who went clubbing. Platonically. They’d been teammates for two years, shared a bed last week. Platonically. Louis planned a study date - a study _session_ \- for them, platonically. They could be instagram friends at this point, couldn’t they? Platonically, of course. Harry hit “Follow,” and then, after a moment’s hesitation, “Turn on post notifications.” Platonically.

 

_Thursday - Day 23_

After practice, Louis paraded around the locker room in his towel, one of those thin quick-absorb ones, throwing his hands around as he pantomimed an anecdote from lab earlier today that ended with a beaker exploding in the TA’s face. Between the lilt of his voice, the sparkle in his eyes as he laughed, and his muscles rippling with his movements, the way it made Harry feel was decidedly not platonic.

 

_Friday - Day 24_

2x (4x first place finishes) times Harry wanted to celebrate with a kiss.

 

_Saturday - Day 25_

Harry stood on the brick porch of Louis’ frat house, unsure the best way to announce his presence. A knock could bring any number of unknown fraternity boys to the door, but a text seemed...impersonal, the modern equivalent of honking your car horn to signal you’ve arrived. And how awkward if someone walked out while he waited for Louis to get the text and come open the door.

He texts.

2x awkward minutes outside

4x shifting his weight

2x needlessly adjusting his backpack straps

4x fruitless efforts to tame his hair

1x soft Louis in a blue sweater and gray joggers

Harry stares as Louis moved his fringe out of his eyes and greeted Harry. He realizes he should maybe get a grip when the door was wide open and Louis was looking at him and raising his eyebrows. “Oh, uh,” Harry coughs, “yeah, hi.” He gives a weak wave as he steps over the threshold.

2x hours of squirmy studying on the couch

4x seating configurations

6x errant touches

0x reading done

Louis’ legs were stretched over Harry’s lap, his head against the opposite couch arm, when he throws his flash cards into his lap. “I give up, I’m done!” he announces, flinging his arms up behind his head. He groans as he stretches, then brings his body forward to ask Harry, “How are you doing?”

Harry’s never gotten less work done in his life, having spent most of the evening watching Louis’ body as he shifted around the couch. His thighs when he sat cross legged, his wrists as he absentmindedly tapped his knee, his shoulders when he put down his notebook and highlighter to stretch his arms.

“Great. Got a lot done.” Harry neatened up his papers to avoid looking Louis in the eye. “Really glad I came over.” Well, that last part wasn’t a lie at least.

“Channing Tatum time, you think?” Louis smiles. “I can grab us some beers if you can find the movie? It should be on the frat’s iTunes account.” Louis digs around in the detritus on the coffee table and comes up with the apple remote. “Thanks.”

“Sure.” Harry turns on the Apple TV and finds 21 Jump Street. Given how he could barely keep his focus on studying with Louis next to him, he doesn’t see how with a dark room, some alcohol, and nothing important to pay attention to, his whole body won’t be attuned to Louis’ every movement.

3x Miller Lites

4x Louis tilting his head back with laughter

4x Harry imagining kissing his exposed neck

Louis was leaning back against the couch, coming down from his laugh, when he turned his head and locked eyes with Harry. Harry’s heart rate ticked up, nervous about being caught at a minimum blatantly checking Louis out and at most with every heated thought on open display. He swallows.

Louis licks his lips as a small smile plays across his face. “Want to do something else, Styles?”

“ _Yeah._ ” Harry puts his half empty beer on the coffee table and closes the distance - not that there was much - between them.

 

_Sunday - Day 26_

Little more than making out happened last night, standard first base material, and Harry spends the day alternatingly catching up on Bojack Horseman, getting the reading done he tried to do at Louis’, and jerking off to fantasies of flattening Louis on that couch and making him incoherent with pleasure.

 

_Monday - Day 27_

He sees Louis for the first time since Saturday night walking across campus with one of his fraternity brothers, or so Harry guesses by the Greek letters on the guy’s sweatshirt. The three of them meet at the bricked intersection, sorority girls whirring past on beach cruisers and graduate students heading towards the engineering labs burdened with heavy black laptop bags in the LA heat.

Louis, on the other hand, looks like he was made to sparkle in the sunshine. Today he’s smiling under a snapback, the sun bronzing his exposed shoulders in a loose tank top from his high school club swim team. Harry imagines touching his sun-warmed skin, getting lost in the heat Louis seems to create just by being, when he’s suddenly snapped back to earth. For one, as he reminds Niall whenever he brings up Louis, he doesn’t _want_ a boyfriend right now, and for two, Louis’ said something to him.

“Hm? What? I’m sorry.”

Louis’ laughing at him. “Ryan, I gotta head to practice with Harry, see you later.”

“Dinner with the guys later?”

“Yeah for sure! See ya!” Louis turned toward Harry, shifting his weight and fiddling with his backpack strap. “Hey.”

Harry’s determined not to make this weird. They’re friends. Who kissed. Friends do that sometimes. It doesn’t have to _mean_ anything.

“Hey Lou. What’s up?"

They meander over towards the aquatics center, chatting about their class schedule and what they think Coach has planned for today’s workout. Harry is grateful Louis doesn’t ask about what he did with the rest of his weekend; he’s a bad liar with a terrible poker face.

They don’t separate until they reach the locker room, and Harry spends his time getting dressed replaying every moment of their conversation, basking in the memories of Louis’ full attention on him. “Get a grip, Styles,” he mutters to himself as he slams the metal locker door shut.

Like magnets, Louis and Harry are drawn together again as they leave the locker room to head towards the pool.

“You know,” Louis reminds him, “Mulvaney still has that terrible beard. We really need to finalize our plan for conning him into getting rid of it.”

“Oh we do, do we? You know, I only remember one of us lodging a complaint. You’re on your own here.”

Louis stops and grabs Harry’s bicep, forcing him to face Louis. “Harry I have received feedback from a substantial number of teammates that Mulvaney’s beard is, and I quote,” with this he releases Harry’s arm to make air quotes, “‘scary,’ ‘creepy,’ ‘he calls that a beard?,’ and my personal favorite, ‘like smelly dragon breath.’ Surely you want to avoid any further traumatization of our beloved teammates?”

“Oh well, if your not at all biased sample set says so, who am I to stop you?”

Louis’ face brightens. “That’s the spirit!” He dashes off towards the practice lanes, the sun finding the red streaks in his hair. Harry gazes for a moment as Louis glows on the pool deck.

A shout and a clap on the back from Niall breaks his trance. “Harry, getting in the pool anytime soon? You’ll definitely get a better view of Tomlinson in the locker room and the sooner you’re in the pool the sooner you’re out!”

Harry sputters “I’m not...I wasn’t...at anything…”

“Save it, Harry. You know that I know that you’re on the prowl again. It’s fine, nothing wrong with it. Let’s get you in the pool so you can get Tomlinson’s dick in your face ASAP.”

“I don’t want...I’m not…” Harry starts arguing but ultimately decides it’s not worth the trouble. He doesn’t need to justify his relationship with Louis - his _friendship_ with Louis - to anyone, including Niall. He snaps his cap over his head, fits his goggles onto his face, and jumps in the water.

 

_Tuesday - Day 28_

Yesterday’s practice could only be described as mediocre at best. Harry kept getting infuriated over Niall’s assumption that he wanted Louis to be his boyfriend, then thought about how he kind of did want Louis to be his boyfriend, and then got angry at himself for wanting Louis to be his boyfriend. Usually a rage cycle like that would have had him slicing through the water at superhuman speeds, but yesterday his thoughts resulted in a more melancholy pace.

As he sluggishly kicked his way through a freestyle set on Tuesday, Harry reviewed his relationship history. Most recently: Sean. Together for 5 months, since last April. Before Sean: Greg. A volleyball player who towered over Harry in a delightful way. They got together the August before Harry’s sophomore year, during that calm before the storm when the athletes had moved in on campus but the rest of the dorms were empty. They had broken up in March, not long after Harry said “I love you” and Greg said “Volleyball season is really getting serious right now.”

Before Greg there was...hah! No one. Harry picked up his pace as he remembered summer ‘16 and the two months he spent studying abroad in Rome. There was no boyfriend because there were gorgeous Italian men left and right. Harry smiled in the water as he remembered Georgio. The epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, Georgio spoke almost no English and Harry almost no Italian, but the sparks between them didn’t need a translator.

Harry sighed when he reached the wall, waiting out his 20 second rest with a vivid memory of Georgio on top of him, sucking him down. Harry stroked his own muscled thighs as he remembered his face between Georgio’s chiseled legs, eagerly taking Georgio’s dick as he thrust into Harry’s mouth.

“Styles, GO!” Shit, he missed his interval.

1x tuck that memory away for another day

**_Week 6_ **

_Wednesday - Day 29_

“Another day” turned out to be much sooner than Harry anticipated. The swim coach had given Harry and the other distance swimmers a long endurance set, and by the time they got out of the pool the rest of the team had showered and abandoned the locker room. Harry gathered up his shower kit and checked his phone. He had to grab dinner eventually, but otherwise he had 2 hours before his evening class.

He strode towards the shower, looking forward to relaxing his muscles under the pounding spray. Turning the knob all the way to the left, he stood just outside the spray as he waited for it to warm up. Idly tickling his fingers in the water to feel the temperature, his mind wandered back to Italy. And Georgio. The water grew warmer, lightly spattering droplets onto Harry’s chest and thighs, and he sighed.

Finally hot enough, he stepped into the spray with his back facing the tile wall. Leaning over, he stretched his right arm over his head and held his elbow, feeling the hard jet spray work out the knots in his back. He did the same with his left arm, still thinking of warm summer nights in Georgio’s bed, sheets tangled around their hips as they watched the late setting sun bounce off red tile roofs.

Harry licked the dripping water off his upper lip as he stood up straight. A communal shower in a men’s athletics locker room wasn’t the sexiest of environments, but between the steam, the relaxing water, and his own imagination, Harry actually found his dick perking up. Before he turned around to grab his shampoo, he quickly scanned the locker room and gave a listen for anyone else left.

Silence.

Harry let out a little whistle of delight as he squeezed the shampoo bottle and lathered his hair. He took his time massaging his scalp, humming to himself and remembering more about Italy - the beautiful _pesca_ tree outside his flat he could grab ripe peaches off in the morning on the way to class, evenings on the patio with a bottle of wine writing essays, and Georgio. _Georgio_. Harry exhaled a deep, long breath.

Harry let his mind linger on the memory from yesterday, he and Georgio sucking each other off after barely getting it together enough to not fuck in the club bathroom. He closes his eyes as he rinses the conditioner out of his hair, running his fingers through his tangles and imagining he’s stroking Georgio’s thighs again. His dick continues fattening up as he reaches down to grab the conditioner.

Bracing himself against the wall, back to the locker room, Harry finally grabs his dick, the glide smooth from the conditioner in his palm. He starts with slow, long strokes, letting the steam envelope him, tickling his nose as he gets lost in the sensory memories of Italy. Sparkles start to dance in his veins and he leaves his dick to tug lightly at his balls, rubbing over them. Another memory flashes, a bartender he flirted with one night who brought Harry back to his place. Lorenzo had wavy brown and was shorter than Georgio, but lean and muscular. His body had practically vibrated with energy, and his smile was so bright it made the sun irrelevant.

Harry moved his hand faster as he thought about Lorenzo fucking him into the mattress, the sparks in his body growing more fevered, like the fizzle of a lit firework before it explodes. He moaned on a deep exhale, the sound bouncing off the tile walls and adding to the bizarre sexual atmosphere he managed to create. Memory-Lorenzo was stripping Harry’s dick and encouraging his orgasm. Lorenzo lifted his head to continue praising Harry, looking Harry in the eye as the sparks in his body crackled faster, and faster, and more, until Harry was moaning _Loooouis_ and coming into his own hand.

Fuck. Not even fantasizing about the most sexual summer of his short life could keep Louis off his mind. Harry rested his head against his arm on the tile, turning the water temperature a little cooler to bring him back down to earth. He was still breathing heavily when he heard a locker slam and he jerked up straight, eyes darting back and forth as he tried to figure out how long someone had been in here. _Shit shit shit_.

“Had I known this was on your schedule for today I would have asked to join.”

Louis.

 

_Thursday - Day 30_

3x Harry mentioned to Niall it had been a month since Sean broke up with him and he’d been happily single that entire time and yes he’d like a prize, please. 

3x Niall smacked him and called it his prize

 

_Friday - Day 31_

4x Louis tried to talk to Harry

4x Harry fled in mortification

 

_Saturday - Day 32_

3x Harry’s phone vibrated

_H can we talk_

1x “ignore”

_I don’t want to do this over text_

1x “ignore”

_Alright well I’ll see you at practice Monday_

1x “ignore”

 

_Sunday - Day 33_

1x hour laying in bed scrolling Louis’ instagram

1x hour avoiding Niall in the living room

(1x he couldn’t stop thinking about Louis & absolutely could not tell Niall)

3x hours at the library

0x hours of actual work done

 

_Monday - Day 34_

Harry lay in bed, the time creeping dangerously close to when he absolutely needs to leave for practice. He ran through all the possible excuses he could try with Coach but even he knew they were all flimsy.

Harry looked over at his swim bag, debating getting his suit on at home to avoid the locker room, but he’d have to shower at the end of practice anyway.

He sighed. Best to get it over with - he’d see Louis eventually on campus anyway.

4x Louis looked in Harry’s direction in the locker room

2x Louis walked towards Harry on the pool deck

1x Louis might have walked towards Harry but also might have been walking to his water bottle

7x Harry abruptly turned away

 

_Tuesday - Day 35_

Harry is trying to avoid dripping on the political economy textbook at the bottom of his locker as he darts his arm in to grab shampoo. He scurries to the showers, keeping his eyes glued to the vinyl floor as he passes the locker bank that includes Louis’. Nearly everyone else is gone except the distance swimmers, again, but Harry isn’t taking any chances.

Another day of practice over and another day successfully avoiding having to relive his humiliation from last week. He closes his eyes and relaxes into the hot water. Harry’s shampooing his hair, scratching gently at his scalp, when a soft voice much too close to him makes him jump.

“I wasn’t joking last week, by the way.”

“Jesus, do you sneak up on everyone naked in the shower or am I just lucky?”

“You’re lucky. I don’t approach just everyone with offers of mutual masturbation.”

“Can we never talk about that again?” Harry huffs. “Really not my best life choice.”

“Do you really think so?” Louis nonchalantly turns on the shower next to Harry’s, stepping away from the spray but leaving a hand in to feel the temperature.

“I know.”

“Seriously Harry,” Louis’ voice has lowered and he’s stepped closer to Harry, water hitting his chest, “that was one of the hottest things I’ve ever heard.”

Harry swallows, trying to keep his breathing even as Louis takes a few steps closer. He rests his hand on Harry’s chest, lining up their hips, and Harry feels them both hardening under the warm spray.

“And I mean it. I want in next time.” With that, Louis shifts his weight and leans up to kiss Harry, his hand drifting from Harry’s chest to his waist and his free hand moving to the nape of his neck, pulling him in closer and deepening the kiss.

Harry is taken aback by Louis’ boldness but also the softness of his kiss. When someone walks up to you, naked, practically begging to touch you (or be touched, or touch themselves, Louis didn’t seem particular), Harry would have expected a blistering kiss, tongues battling, teeth clashing, the whole bit, but Louis’ lips gently land on Harry’s.

Louis kisses him tenderly, slowly, leaving Harry breathless. He lightly pulls his hand from Harry’s neck, feeling his way down Harry’s body to his dick, and nudging them both so they’re fully under the water. The shower head Louis had turned on is still flowing, the stream of water smacking the tiled floor and covering the gasp that escapes Harry when Louis grabs them both and starts stroking under the spray.

Keeping up a smooth pace, Louis breaks the kiss and mouths along Harry’s jawline. In between nips and licks, he’s telling Harry how hot he is, how he’s wanted Harry for ages, how hot it was to hear Harry saying his name. Harry’s closed his eyes and tilted his head, sighing into the humidity. He’s torn, wanting to make Louis feel as good as Louis is him, but he decides to bask in the attention.

Louis’ kissing his way down Harry’s torso, licking at the muscles there as his hand lightly strokes Harry’s dick. Harry feels like he’s become one with the mist, floating outside of himself in a haze of pleasure. Louis’ on his knees now, kissing up and down Harry’s v lines, down his thighs, his one hand in an easy circle fisting Harry and his other idly stroking up and down Harry’s leg and over and around his bum.

“God, Louis,” he stutters. He’s torn between accepting this surprise shower hand job for the gift that it is and pushing Louis for more, harder, faster. Harry’s saved from having to decide by the hot, wet heat of Louis’ mouth closing around his crown. He stutter steps forward at the jolt of pleasure and Louis puts his hands against Harry’s thighs to help him catch his balance.

Louis’ taking him deeper and deeper at an excruciatingly slow pace, taking his time tonguing around the head of Harry’s dick. Harry’s veins are fizzling and he feels effervescent with pleasure, his orgasm starting off with small explosions throughout his body until he’s squeezing Louis’ shoulder and coming into his mouth with a low “ohhhh, oh my god.” For a moment he’s convinced he’s suspended in a new state of matter; that his body has dissolved into water vapor and he’s no longer in a human form.

When Harry’s back to feeling like a solid mass, he opens his eyes to find Louis standing straight and tall in front of him, smirking. “I bet that wasn’t - “

Harry pulls Louis against him and cuts him off with a kiss. With one arm around his shoulders and one arm fumbling - successfully - for Louis’ dick, Harry pulls them both backwards until he’s crashing against the wall. He pulls Louis off, fast under the water, kissing him deeply as he brings their bodies together. Harry reaches down to stroke Louis’ bum and kisses down his jawline, stopping when he finds this spot just below Louis’ jaw and behind his ear where Harry just _fits_.

Louis lets out a shuddering sigh and Harry stays at that spot, nipping and biting and sucking. When he catches his breath, he lets out a quiet “Yeah, Lou, let me make you feel good.” Harry kisses his jaw again. “You were so good earlier, that was so good, let me make you come.”

Louis’ breathing is getting more erratic, but it isn’t until Harry moves his hand lower to play with his balls that Louis lets out a long, stuttering “oh god, oh god” and with a few strokes more is coming into Harry’s hand.

Harry strokes him through his orgasm, Louis’ head having come to rest on his shoulder, the two of them still pressed to one another against the shower wall.

Harry presses a kiss to Louis’ temple as he folds him in tight. The water - now freezing - is pounding the tile around them. The water doesn’t feel like a trap anymore, but a release, a liberation. He’s ready to dive in deep with Louis.

1x “I’ll remember to extend an invitation then.”

**Author's Note:**

> here's a [tumblr post](http://polkadotsvstripes.tumblr.com/post/174164129658/down-in-atlantis-by-polkadotsvstripes-e-9k) to reblog and while you're there pop over to [anitra's blog](http://allwaswell16.tumblr.com/) and tell her how great her moodboard is!


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